Indian Navy denies sexual harassment of young lieutenant's wife

Kochi: The Indian Navy has denied allegations that a group of officers based in Kochi sexually harassed a young lieutenant's wife.

Based on a complaint by the woman, the Kochi police has filed a case against six naval officers; the charges "physical and mental torture" and demanding dowry.

The woman, who graduated from IIT, and was married in 2011, told NDTV that two months ago in an officer's house, she was tied to a table by her husband, and that he allowed his colleagues to sexually molest her and cut off her hair.

She has also alleged in her complaint to the police that her husband and other officers have been threatening her safety if she does not drop the case against them.

The Southern Naval Command has issued a statement in which it says, "The wife of the officer has leveled unfair allegations against superior officers in her husband's chain of command, their spouses and other officers who have interacted with her. These officers accompanied by their respective spouses had tried to unsuccessfully resolve the issues dogging the couple's personal life in a bid to leverage the strength of the Naval community bond." (Read full statement here)

The statement says the Navy will cooperate fully with the police investigation to "clear the fair name of the officers who intervened in the line of duty to resolve the domestic discord of a young officer."